The present invention relates to the area of ear and eye protection devices which are used in industrial and factory applications. More specifically, it relates to ear and eye protection combinations wherein a pair of earplugs is conveniently attached to a pair of eyeglasses. In many cases the eyeglasses will consist of safety glasses.
In many industrial plants and factories, workers are required to wear safety glasses and/or earplugs in order to protect their eyes from flying objects and their ears from excessive noise levels in the plant. One particularly common and very effective form of earplugs consists of a baffled cone shaped member having a cavity or recess in its back end. The earplugs are attached to each other simply by a shoelace-like cord which has each of its end tips bound with a small ring of a thin transparent vinyl or a cellophane type material to prevent fraying of the cord. This bound surface provides a bearing surface which can be inserted into a cylindrical cavity or recess located in the back end of an earplug by frictional engagement therewith. Such earplug cord assemblies are commonly draped across the user's neck when the earplugs are not in use.
However, many users of these devices also wear glasses and, in many cases, they wear safety glasses. Often a factory worker or machine operator will need to hunt for a pair of safety glasses and then hunt for a pair of earplugs. The present invention eliminates the need to look for both of these items, and it encourages factory works to always wear both safety glasses and earplugs at the same time, thus reducing injuries to both eyes and ears. In many plants, often safety glasses and the earplugs are kept separate from one another so that a factory worker may be tempted to wear one, but not both of these devices. Or, a factory, worker may misplace one, but not both of the devices, and may be tempted to enter the work area without complete protection.
The present invention solves these difficulties by adapting the standard earplug and cord assembly which is presently on the market and in common use so that it can be removeably attached to a pair of eyeglasses. In this way, factory or plant management can separately purchase a pair of elastomeric loops and adjusters and secure them on the cord of a set of standard earplugs and then attach the invention to a standard set of safety glasses. Thus the invention can be dispensed as a unit so that workers will be encouraged to wear both forms of protection at all times.
In an alternative form, standard safety glasses can be purchased which have a hole or aperture through each temple. In this way, a factory worker can simply remove the earplug at the tip of the cord and insert the cord through each aperture. From that point on, whenever the factory worker reaches for a pair of eyeglasses, the earplugs will be removeably attached.
The invention in this form, can secure a standard earplug assembly to a pair of eyeglasses and/or safety glasses for a very nominal cost with simple, inexpensively designed elements.